Splinter review by The Offspring

Sound — 10
I grew up on the Offspring, and the thing I notice about the sound is that they always manage to make a slight change in it--it develops over time, always sounding like them but with a little twist. Spare Me The Details is especially catchy, done in acoustics, while Can't Get My Head Around You is fun and loud. The strange track at the end, When You're In Prison, sounds like a 20's recording. Songs like Long Way Home and Lightning Rod are reminiscent of some older Offspring stuff, and Hit That is a fun little (but strange) song that sounds like Casio keyboards gone very, very wrong... a pretty unique sound.

Lyrics — 10
Deep issues are laden in quite a few of the Offspring songs, this one's no different. The Noose is an apocolyptic-feeling dark song, Long Way Home is (I *think*) about getting out of a bad relationship. Race Against Myself is fighting the inner mind, I'm not quite sure... Spare Me the Details is just funny about a cheating girlfriend, Lightning Rod is about death, and the last track, When You're In Prison, is about not bending over for any reason while in prison... for obvious reasons. Dexter is EXTREMELY talented as a singer, in my opinion, and is kind of underrated... but the vocals in this, in my opinion, are better than some previous stuff (not all, definitely). Maybe its just me.

Overall Impression — 8
For an Offspring album, its pretty solid: in my eyes, it's better than Conspiracy of One, but not quite as good as Americana or Smash. The upbeat Can't Get My Head Around You is very impressive musically and lyrically, and Spare me the Details is different because of its acoustic sound. I keep the Splinter CD on my iPod at all times, its perfect for a lot of moods. The only downside is that its not very long--just over a half an hour, and only 12 songs...that's REALLY a short CD in my opinion. But it's still good, and a good addition to the Offspring collection of music. I can't wait to see them live!